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People have probably already seen this on twitter but just in case....
<blockquote
cite="mid:312DC92B-16C1-4977-9BD4-CAF406CC6D99@scraperwiki.com"
type="cite">
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font class="Apple-style-span"
color="#0020f6" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="font-size: 13px;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">
<div style="margin: 0px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"
face="Arial" size="4">It appears Oracle has mobilized customers to
write letters to the Commission and basically dictated the content by
telephone. Based on what we heard from at least one such customer,
Oracle apparently tried to particularly appeal to customers who also
use Java and/or Sun hardware, and Oracle basically tried to capitalize
on customer concerns about Sun's overall future in case the deal falls
through, while the European Commission's concerns are only about MySQL,
not about the rest of Sun. Monty just wants a solution for MySQL (the
simplest and most effective one would be for Oracle to commit to sell
MySQL to a suitable third party).</font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"
face="Arial" size="4"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"
face="Arial" size="4">In light of this aggressive campaigning by
Oracle, Monty made the following call on the open source community a
few hours ago:</font></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(0, 32, 246);"
color="#0020f6" face="Arial" size="4"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://monty-says.blogspot.com/2009/12/help-saving-mysql.html">http://monty-says.blogspot.com/2009/12/help-saving-mysql.html</a></font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"
face="Arial" size="4"> </font></p>
</font></span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0020f6" face="Arial"
size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0020f6" face="Arial"
size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Aidan</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0020f6" face="Arial"
size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br>
</span></font></div>
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</blockquote>
<br>
I see no problem with this latest development. Even if Oracle pulled
all the funding, all the people currently using MySQL will be able to
do so for many years. So many people are using MySQL that its very
likely to get forked.<br>
<br>
In fact, the best possible scenario is that MySQL gets forked in to a
community project; by the community for the community. It should never
have been owned by a company in the first place.<br>
<br>
That said, I don't see any reason for Oracle to shut down MySQL. MySQL
and Oracle are not in competition. MySQL can really only be
considered a semi-relational dumb datastore. It's good for little
applications. <br>
<br>
Oracle on the other hand is a real database designed for real
transaction processing.<br>
<br>
This difference means there is a reason to fund both products. It's
horses for courses. Some people need a air-tight, high availablity,
high throughput database. Others need a fast semi-relational DB that
doesn't have the bells and whistles. <br>
<br>
The two markets are complimentary. Ford makes supercars and it makes
the KA. It is a sensible business strategy to do. Similiarly, it is
sensible to fund both MySQL and Oracle. <br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
Simon.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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